§ Mr. George Stevenson (Stoke-on-Trent, South)I wish to present a petition signed by about 8,000 of my constituents. It states that the proposals by the Office of Fair Trading for unrestricted opening of pharmacies for the dispensation of national health service prescriptions will have a serious and detrimental effect on those pharmacies and the communities they serve. The petition requests the House of Commons to urge the Government to reject those very damaging proposals at the earliest possible opportunity.
The petition declares:
That the proposals made by the Office of Fair Trading allowing the unrestricted opening of pharmacies able to dispense NHS prescriptions will have a detrimental impact on local pharmacies and their continued services to local communities.The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to reject the proposals made by the OFT for unrestricted opening of pharmacies.And the Petitioners remain etc.To lie upon the Table.